Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso

Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (44 BC-20 AD) was Consul of the Roman Empire in 7 BC and later governor of Hispania, Africa Proconsularis, and Roman Syria. In 20 AD, he committed suicide after being found guilty for the murder of Germanicus.

Biography
Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso was born in 44 BC, the son of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso and the brother of consul Lucius Calpurnius Piso the Augur. He held many positions under emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and he was placed in charge of the imperial mint, served as Consul with Tiberius in 7 BC, was sent as a legate Hispania, made Proconsul of Africa Proconsularis in 9 AD, Proconsul of Hispania Tarraconensis in 9 AD, and Governor of Roman Syria in 17 AD. Tiberius sent Piso to Syria to serve as his watchdog, as the general Germanicus (Tiberius' adoptive son), a staunch republican, was the only man preventing Tiberius and his right-hand man Sejanus from ushering in complete tyranny. In 19 AD, Piso and his wife Plancina had Germanicus poisoned, and they were tried before the Roman Senate, where Piso was found guilty of abandoning and re-entering Syria without authorization to wage war, and for violating Germanicus' authority. Piso was subjected to a damnatio memoriae, under which he was vilified by the state, and Piso committed suicide after his wife dissociated herself from him after she was acquitted.